


Training

by Ariel_Lazarus



Series: Ace and Cats [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Just more cats and silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27744085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariel_Lazarus/pseuds/Ariel_Lazarus
Summary: Deuce would say he can't believe what Ace is doing right now, but sadly he absolutely can, and this doesn't really surprise him at all after he got past the initial shock and remembered that this is Ace. Still though, the ridiculousness of the events unfolding in front of him is unparalleled; he can't decide whether to laugh or cry, considering this is the man he's dedicated his life to.
Relationships: Masked Deuce & Portgas D. Ace
Series: Ace and Cats [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908709
Comments: 16
Kudos: 50





	Training

**Author's Note:**

> Finally wrote another fic for this series! It's absolutely ridiculous, but I hope you enjoy it!

Deuce would say he can't believe what Ace is doing right now, but sadly he absolutely can, and this doesn't really surprise him at all after he got past the initial shock and remembered that this is Ace. Still though, the ridiculousness of the events unfolding in front of him is unparalleled; he can't decide whether to laugh or cry, considering this is the man he's dedicated his life to.

Deuce wasn't sure what to expect when he followed Ace after he claimed he was gonna train them, but Ace is actually trying to teach all the cats to fight.

He's taking it very seriously, but he seems like the only one who is. Many of the cats are just laying around; a few more active ones are playing and running and swatting at each other, which he's taking as participation. Meat keeps trying to pounce on Ace's foot, clinging to it when he moves.

Ace also brought Kotatsu along to try and demonstrate some moves for them, and the lynx is actually going along with it. Though that part isn't too surprising, seeing as Kotatsu tends to go along with what Ace wants most of the time, the captain being by far his favorite human.

"Alright, now I know Kotatsu is bigger than you, but your claws are still plenty sharp, so this move should still work just as well." Ace explains to them as if they're actually paying attention. He then turns towards Kotatsu and says, "Ok, try that grabbing one again, buddy!"

The large cat leaps up and wraps his paws around Ace's head from behind, covering his eyes. "Yeah, like that!" Ace exclaims. "See, you guys? You can also do this with your claws out, so then you aren't just keeping them from seeing right at that moment, you're actually taking out their eyes for good!"

Should Deuce be concerned with the enthusiasm Ace is showing while teaching cats to claw people's eyes out? He considers this for a second, but dismisses the thought. They are pirates after all, dirty and underhanded tactics are probably to be expected. Besides, it isn't like the cats seem to be taking any of it in anyway, so what harm could even come from it?

"Hey, Deuce!" Ace yells from across the room, Kotatsu having let go of his head and gotten back into a striking position. "You wanna help us out with the next one?"

"You mean stand there and actually  _ let _ Kotatsu pounce on me? No thanks, I'll pass." Deuce says, rolling his eyes. He gets enough of the lynx pouncing on him at random times without encouraging it. Ace keeps trying to say Kotatsu doesn't have it in for him specifically, but Deuce doesn't believe it for a second. 

"Besides, I need to get back the infirmary and finish my inventory so we know what we need to restock before the next island," he adds. As amusing as this whole thing has been, he really does need to get back to work. He was mostly watching out of curiosity and concern anyway, but it seems unnecessary now that he's seen how fruitless Ace's training efforts seems to be.

"Ok then." Ace shrugs, unconcerned with his disinterest in helping, probably having already known that Deuce would refuse after he's said multiple times he thought this idea was pointless. "We're gonna keep at it though! Right, guys?" The cats don't respond though, unless you count Meat jumping on his foot again as a response.

Ace's determination is a force to be reckoned with, but Deuce isn't always sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. He just shakes his head as he walks off, leaving Ace to his "training".

-

Deuce can't remember who these guys had introduced themselves as before attacking the Spades, but it doesn't really matter. For all their grandstanding, this other crew honestly isn't very tough, even by his standards as someone who isn't primarily a combatant.

The Spades are taking them out pretty easily, most having a great time fighting, while Deuce keeps out of most of it, wanting to stay available just in case anyone is hurt. 

Then Deuce catches sight of a man from the other crew about to shoot Saber from behind. He's not near enough to stop the man in time and his attempt to shout a warning is drowned out by all the noise from the battle. He still tries to rush in that direction, hoping even if he can't stop it that he can still save Saber afterwards.

Suddenly the man is stopped, but not by anyone Deuce would expect. Piper, the black cat with the torn ear and missing part of her tail, who seems to really like Deuce for some reason he certainly can't explain, has jumped onto the man's head. He turns around and appears to be screaming, blood streaming down his face from where it looks like she-

Deuce's brain stops working for a moment when he remembers back to when he was watching Ace try and train the cats to fight. The last thing he saw was Ace showing them how to claw someone's eyes out. 

He hadn't thought any of them were paying attention, but clearly at least she was, considering the man who is now staggering towards the railing after being blinded. She leaps off of him just as he falls overboard, likely too disoriented by the pain to realize how close to the rail he was.

Saber, having turned around to the sight of Piper clawing a man's eyes out that had clearly been about to shoot him, runs over to where she landed after leaping off and scoops her up and puts her on his shoulder. He gives her a few scratches behind the ears and gets back into the fighting, this time with his small furry companion assisting.

Deuce is still frozen in place, unable to comprehend the ridiculousness of what he just witnessed. Ace was actually successful in teaching one of the cats to fight?

Because he's so caught up in the shock of it all, he nearly misses seeing Meat and Skull Jr. taking out another enemy on their own with a similar move. This time Meat is the one to claw a very large man's eyes out with Skull Jr. assisting in getting him over the railing by winding between his feet and tripping him.

Deuce starts looking around more after that and can't believe his eyes; he can see most of the cats either taking out enemies or assisting some of the other Spades in doing so. Some are trying out similar maneuvers on enemies like clawing eyes out or tripping them, others are attempting different tactics like jumping at and leaping off of them to unbalance them or clawing at limbs to distract them while one of the human crewmembers takes them out.

With the cats now helping, the battle goes even quicker than it was before. The other crew is finally realizing they never stood a chance, and those left alive start scrambling to get back to their ship and sail away. The Spades are willing to let them run, and the only one that doesn't make it is their captain. As he's trying to get away, Kotatsu swats a big paw at his leg, knocking him off balance. Then Patches, a fluffy grey and white cat, jumps up on his head and leaps right back off, the last push needed to send him overboard like so many of the others.

-

After the remnants of the enemy crew have sailed far enough away they can't even be seen anymore, Deuce marches over towards Ace. "You-" he sputters "I don't-" He's honestly at a loss for words right now.

"Wow, Master Ace! How'd you manage to teach them to fight like that?" Skull pipes up to ask, while scratching his small namesake behind the ears. "That move where Meat clawed out that guy's eyes and then Skull Jr. here tripped him and sent him flying overboard sure was impressive!" The other cat makes an interested sound upon hearing his name, and dashes over to get some scratches too. Skull complies of course, he's always happy to pet the cats anyways.

"Kotatsu helped a lot!" Ace says, cheerfully. He's clearly proud of what all the cats accomplished today. "He helped me show them different moves, and we just kept practicing until they finally picked them up!" And speak of the devil, Kotatsu suddenly appears right next to Ace and meows that oddly cute meow of his.

"Oh, that's right!" Ace reaches out and pets Kotatsu before continuing. "I owe you guys some meat now don't I? As soon as we get to another island, I'll hunt you up something really good!" The excited responses from the cats around them seem to indicate they understood that?

"Ace, did you bribe the cats with meat to get them to learn how to fight?" Deuce finally manages to collect his thoughts enough to ask after that last realization.

"Well," Ace answers, sheepishly, "They weren't really picking up on things very fast, and it always worked for when we had to teach Luffy something." Ok, after everything Ace has told Deuce about his little brother, that actually makes sense. Still though, bribing house cats with food to teach them to fight? All those small cats fighting grown men? It's just ridiculous.

"I'm just gonna go see who's injured," Deuce says finally. He needs to step away from this nonsense, and there are likely members of the crew who need treatment after the battle anyway. He can deal with this later. Or never. Never works too. His brain may actually prefer to never acknowledge this again, for the sake of his sanity.

"Ok!" Ace replies. Piper and Patches have both come over for their own pets now, more of the cats following behind. Ace is happy to of course, especially after they fought for the crew like he kept saying they would.

This is just the start, Deuce thinks to himself with trepidation. He's sure that now that Ace has proven he can teach cats to fight, things are only going to get crazier from here. Maybe they should just start looking into getting a bigger ship now?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading this all the way to the end, wonderful person that you are! Kudos and comments would be appreciated, but don't feel pressured! If you'd like to talk to me or see what I'm up to, you can find me here at [my tumblr](https://arielxlazarus.tumblr.com/) or [my twitter](https://twitter.com/ArielxLazarus?s=09) or if you're 18 or over feel free to join my nsfw 18+ discord server called [pirate shenanigans](https://discord.gg/4ZYeYaX). We're just a nice and friendly community of adults who love one piece, especially Ace and all of the Spade and Whitebeard pirates!


End file.
